Vintage Chart 1983 TO 2022
Stephen Doyle
Bloodwood Vintage Chart 1983 to 2022
VINTAGE REPORT AND RATINGS
1983 Give us a chance..we hadn't even planted..but elsewhere, a very severe drought by contemporary standards. 4
1984 Quite wet with some hail and bird damage on control fruit...Good growing conditions for an establishing vineyard. 5
1985 Good growing season with very dry finish to late March. Encouraging fruit flavours, particularly the reds. 8
1986 Perfect growing season throughout; spice & cigars opportunistically enjoyed by vicarious vulpine visitors. 7
1987 Cold growing conditions with heavy rain in early March, more tobacco leaf than cigars. An underdone vintage. 5
1988 Dry, early vintage. Good quality clean fruit. Cabernet tannins still fresh and exciting in late 2013. 8
1989 Potentially great vintage. We suffered a terrible hail storm at 10 pm on New Year's Eve. Clean bowled. 0
1990 Moist season followed by a dry March and early April. Complete wines with rich fruit and fine acid balance. 7
1991 Drought year with vintage late-March. Low yields and intense flavours resulting in densely coloured, long-lived reds. 8
1992 Cool and moist until late February, then sunshine. Finely balanced wines of moderate alcohols which have aged beautifully. 9
1993 Dry, cold winter followed by a testing, wet Spring. A late sunny vintage helped raise spirits. Riesling shone. 6
1994 Mild winter and a frost scare on 12th October. Dry harvest saw rich fruit and a first July Ice Riesling. 8
1995 Dry conditions continued. Fruit quality was good across all varieties. Cabernet carried the flag. 6
1996 Drought hit with a vengeance. Perfect vintage conditions. Intensely flavoured small berried Cabernet and tight Riesling. 7
1997 Another dry year. Fine, well structured Chardonnay and riesling the best and a surprise late Riesling picked on 20th June. 7
1998 Hottest and driest year for decades. Early ripening richly flavoured wines. An exceptional Maurice Merlot Noir and Cabernet release. 8
1999 A year for all seasons. Frost, hail, heat and rain at vintage. Good Riesling and surprising Cabernet; some fine Chardonnay. 7
2000 See 1987, double it and add devastating hail, bird attacks and torrential vintage rain. Chirac best although Cabernet a surprise lately. Enough said! 3
2001 Dry season until mid-vintage hail and 91 mm from 11th to 17th March. Riesling, Schubert, Shiraz impress. 7
2002 Great season, drought vintage. Wonderful ripe, balanced fruit. Chardonnay, Pinot, Riesling and Shiraz all fine. 8
2003 Drought continued into very early, very warm vintage. All reds are good, especially Cabernet and Shiraz. 7
2004 Fair winter but drought continued. Dry cool vintage, low yields and intense flavours. Reds & Chardonnay a bit special. 8
2005 Drought continues continuing. Excellent early growing season. Natural fruit/acid balance in all varieties. Pinot OK! 7
2006 Drought continues intensifying. Very clean growing season with early, healthy vintage. Riesling, Shiraz & Cabernet all good. 7
2007 Drought intensifies into strangulation mode until 200 mm over a tough vintage. Birds a real problem. Small crop, rare flavours. Chirac shone. 5
2008 Still droughty,but variable cooler early vintage .Moderate crops of clean fruit. Riesling, Malbec and Merlot Noir particularly fine. 8
2009 Dry enough but THE VINTAGE OF THE CENTURY!!. Moderate crops of clean fruit with great balance and texture. Take your pick, it's all good. 9
2010 A season for the skilled in the vineyard. A lot of winemaking but not a lot of wine, very good though it surely is. Schubert and Shiraz outstanding. 8
2011 A spring and summer which would have made Noah feel at home. Plenty of challenges met and overcome. Cabernet Franc blossoms. 6
2012 More rain, more pain. Low crops in low cloud just got us through to a dry vintage month. Excellent whites. Less is more. 7
2013 Record heat, record one day rainfall on 1st March followed by windiest month for years. In the end, very good reds and great whites. Pinot a surprise. 8
2014 Potential brown disaster followed by potential green disaster. 230 mm in 23 rainfall events over six weeks. Some fancy foot work required. Possibly a 7
2015 Normal yields of good, sound fruit after a fairly comfortable growing season. Excellent colour in all red varieties and a flavoursome lightness across the whites. Savoury Pinot Noir and juicy Cabernet Franc amongst the best. 7+
2016 Earliest vintage on record finishing on 6th March. Starting date last century was consistently around the 20th March. Very warm and stable finish after some good early summer rain. Ripeness across all varieties the feature. Whites generally better than the reds surprisingly but reds are fine enough. 8
2017 Wettest winter and spring since 2011 and the vineyard responded after such a long, dry period. Crops were healthy and plentiful with some good wines made after a warm, dry vintage month. Riesling, Chardonnay and Pinot Noir outstanding. 8
2018 Drought intensified after little Winter run-off. Stable and warm throughout with bush fires a concern for many. Moderate yields for those with well managed water. We began irrigation in August to support Spring growth. Good quality across the board with excellent pH and natural acid levels. Some very exciting wines made across all styles. 9
2019 Drought intensifies. Another Winter without run-off but a cool start to the growing season until New Year. Record heat wave in January and this warmth continued until early May. Generally low yields of disease free fruit needing a bit of care in the winery because vintage was so rushed. Alcohols needed controlling both in the vineyard and winery. Riesling, Pinot Noir and Cabernet outstanding presently. 8+
2020 Vintage Disaster...Smoked Out.
It seemed to depend on the elevation of the vineyard site. Lower, larger commercial vineyards towards the 600m contour fared a little better than those above the 750 m mark. Why this was so is a bit of a mystery however it probably had something to do with the stage of growth when the smoke first arrived. Reports from the lower and larger vineyards are that although there was some smoke evident across all varieties, the whites fared a little better than the reds after some considerable wine making intervention. At around the 600 m mark, Reds 2 and whites 4 seems appropriate. However, for the more elevated areas of the Orange Region, the consensus is pretty bleak.
( It might be fairer that vintage 2020 in Orange has no rating because of the impossible growing seasonal circumstances.)
Growing Season 2021 vintage
What a difference a deluge makes
Figures for growing season 2021 indicate we had 242% more winter/spring rainfall and 75% of the degree day accumulation for the same period for growing season 2020. This means that the vineyards have generally lush canopies to ripen the little fruit that has set. Generally, the region produced between 30 and 40% of an average harvest. The reasons for this are related to the carry over effects of the drought, some early Spring snow chill and some evidence of bud mite damage on weakened vines. A miserable yield of good quality fruit. Riesling fared best. 6
Vintage 2022. Against all the seasonal odds, at this early stage this looks like a Cabernet vintage to me. High acids and only moderate yields which slowly ripened in and out of the persistent rain falls of the continuing La Nina. Very good bright Chardonnay and excellent Cabernet. 7.5+